This is a selection of our recovered bullets from sand.

Recovered bullets from animals we have shot look very similar.

Notice that almost all the brass bullets sheared.

I am not sure if this is due to the brass we use - just ordinary brass from the hardware store, just like the copper.

I have ordered what is classified as ammo brass, and will try it when I get it.

The seven bullets on the bottom right are factory jacketed bullets.

Basically nut much is left but part of the jackets.

good recovery.

I have a few bullets that I have from recovered from game animals.

the Barnes bullets has 4 pedals curled back, and that is along the lines of how close or far away the animals was when shot, the Remington core lock mushroom like many in your recovery board.

I have run across some of the factory jacket bullets recovered from shooting prairie dogs with my 22-250, the HP 52 gr bullet just explodes, and there is not much left of the bullet when looking.

Saeed do you have any pics of bullets that have expanded, stayed in the animal, but are showing the base protrude through the skin? not bulge it, but where you can see the bullet's base? I am trying to find a pic for someone and know I have seen one or two on here - can't find them though...

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
Saeed do you have any pics of bullets that have expanded, stayed in the animal, but are showing the base protrude through the skin? not bulge it, but where you can see the bullet's base? I am trying to find a pic for someone and know I have seen one or two on here - can't find them though...

I have but finding them is going to be difficult!

I also have hundreds of recovered bullets from game animals.

They look exactly the same as these!!?

Very nice and you are making a great bullet!

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
Saeed do you have any pics of bullets that have expanded, stayed in the animal, but are showing the base protrude through the skin? not bulge it, but where you can see the bullet's base? I am trying to find a pic for someone and know I have seen one or two on here - can't find them though...

I have a pic of a Barnes 180 gr TTSX protruding base first from a kudu, PM an email address if you would like the pic and I'll send it along.

Bullet behavior once it hits anything is a dark art.

No one know it.

I have seen things which defy comprehension.

For instance, I have seen both Barnes X and our own Walterhogs not expand at all.

They bend, with the hallow point closing and the bullet becomes a solid.

It happened more with the Barnes X than with ours, but they both did it.

The animals died, so I cannot say they failed.

I have seen a Barnes X hit a kongoni, facing away at an angle, just behind the rib cage.

The bullet went under the skin, changed direction up, staying just under the skin, going over the back, then down again.

It went quite far on the other side.

Causing no damage whatsoever, as it remained under the skin all the way in its up and down path.

No idea how that could have happened.

The funny part is we hear so much about using all sorts of media to test bullets for expansion.

All the above were shot in targets, and recovered from the sand backstop.

They look exactly the same as those we have recovered from animals!!??

Sometimes I see someone on Internet claiming that one type of bullet made from copper, as these were, that are so much better than others in killing.

That, to me, is nothing but pure bullshit.

One make might be more accurate in a particular rifle.

But performance of animals will be the same.

Sometimes we come across certain things we really cannot explain.

Here is a funny story some of you might find interesting.

I was making 25 caliber bullets on our CNC lathe.

I noticed that the hollow point was getting shallower as I checked the bullets coming out.

Originally these were 5mm deep.

Now these were slightly under 3mm.

I took the tool head holding the drill out, and measured it.

I have to do that to get an accurate measurement, as I cannot do that on the machine.

Very strange.

I set the drip up again for 5mm depth and put it back.

After a few bullets, it was down gain.

Only explanation I could see was that the collet somehow is not holding the drill tight enough, and I have to replace it.

It has been in use for quite a while.

Those collets come in two types.

Some are used for 2 sizes of drill, others for one.

The ones I had were for two sizes.

For instance the one in question here was 3-2.

Meaning that it can be used for 3mm and 2mm drills.

I had no replacement, but did find that I had one for 2mm.

The drill I am using is 2mm.

I thought that is fine, so set it up.

I could not get it to work, as the drill kept breaking almost constantly.

I thought that machine has got out of center, and setting it up again is quite an involved process.

Went out and bought more 3-2mm collets, and replaced the 2mm collet.

Machine worked like a charm, no problem at all.

In the afternoon a friend came over.

He has a workshop and uses a CNC lathe too.

I told him about my morning.

He said he has the exact opposite experience to mine.

His lathe prefers single size collets, while mine does the opposite.

I gave him all the single size collets I have, and he promised to bring me all the 2 size collets he has.

We talked to someone who knows a lot more about CNC lathes than either of us.

He laughed, and said "Ah! You are discovering the dark art of CNC machines!"

There is absolutely no logic in this.

But having a brain that hardly functions, I am going to accept reality and use a 2 size collet!

I also have had bad luck with the brass bullets. I've shot three animals with the GS Custom long Range Raptor bullets and two of them blew up on smaller animals. This 235 grain bullet from .375 H&H Magnum hit the point of the shoulder on a bushbuck at 200 meters and exploded under the skin, not making it to the vitals.

My only bullet recovered from an animal was from my Cape Buffalo. It was a .375 TSX.

Here are three from a cape buffalo from 10 days ago. Barnes 500 gr TSX from a .470 NE at about 40 yards, first bullet went in right front shoulder, made small hole thru lungs and stopped in rib on the off side. After a pretty long follow up the second and third bullet expanded as advertised, shots were quartering from the rear at about 45 yards, there was a fourth but it passed thru. Like Saeed said, bullets do strange things.

BaxterB, here you go...

Karl, that's awesome - many thanks for posting that!

Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

Karl, congrats on the buffalo. Hope to hear more about it soon.

Great set of fine mushrooms. Can't complain
about such bullet performance as the copper
slugs.

There's quite a few posts in the hog section
by Bobby Tomek too. All factory bullets.

One night on the way out from calling coyotes
and shooting one with a .223 55gr C/L.

Walking a ditch bank just after dark in the weeds about knee high. One jumped up in front of me about 15 feet, going away. I fired and hit it in the Left ham about even with the tail. Killed it.

Skinning showed it had gone in and traveled
full length under the ribs and out the neck never hitting any bone.
Couldn't ask for a more perfect mushroom.
It was about 3/8" dia, and close to 1/8 thick.

I had it around here for years. It's either walked off, or fell under the gun cabinet out of sight and reach.

Thank you for sharing with us.

George

On one occasion, I shot a buffalo with one of our 375 caliber 300 grain bullets.

Hit him on the shoulder.

The bullets disintegrated completely!

It destroyed the shoulder, but did not penetrate into the chest cavity.

The buffalo hobbled a bit but was not able to run.

I shot him in the head and ended it.

It transpired that I had faulty copper rods that I made the bullets from.

The rod had an air pocket inside, which somehow got rusty.

The bullet actually turned itself and the shoulder bone into sand like consistency!

After that occasion, I started checking the weight of every bullet we make.

Each stock rod has a specific weight, which I cannot control.

But each bullet made from the same rod does not vary in weight by more than 0.2 of a grain throughout a 4 meter rod.

If I see the weight jump up or down by 0.5 of a grain I know there is a problem with the rod, and discarded it.

I once tested a couple of 0.510" diameter 600 grain Woodleigh Weldcore softs by firing them at 2,450 fps into a sand bank at a distance of 25 yards. The rifle was my .500 A-Square.

They held together and expanded to nearly an inch in diameter!

Here is what they looked like when I dug them out - the sand scraped away a lot of the lead:



I used to use them on game, including buffalo, and they have worked well, but I have switched to Barnes TSX copper monolithics driven as fast as I can make them go.

The Barnes bullets seem to retain their weight (except for the petals, which often break off and become secondary projectiles) and penetrate better.

Some great bullet pictures Saeed. After my first couple of trips hunting in Namibia, I told the skinners I’d give them 50 Namibian $ (less than $3 US) for any bullets retrieved from plains game I’ve shot. I especially was interested in the 200 grain TSX I shot my Eland with. It was a perfect mushroom and I have it on my dressing table at home.

Thank you for that, interesting reading for sure.